Making endless record bands



July 12, 1932. L. TENNEY MAKING ENDLESS RECORD BANDS Filed Oct. 22.. 1931 INVENTOR Irv/17 Z 72/1/1051 BY SWOWHSMJ.

Qua ATTORNEY m Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 but mately equal lengths of film are on the two Patented July 12, 1932 7 1,866 585 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE IRVING TENNEY, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

"MAKING ENDLESS nnconn BANDS Application filed October 22, 1931. Serial No. 570,316.

This invention relates to the production illustrating one method by which any odd of endless bands and consists in an improved number of strips may be joined together. method of manipulation whereby a plurality Referring more particularly to Figure 1 of relatively long bands may be spliced or of the drawing 10 and 11 are reels upon which 6 secured to oneanother, end to end, so as to the film or other strip may be wound and 13 form an endless band. is a rotary mandrel comprising two spaced While my invention may be applied to a lugs between which a stretch of the film may number of uses it is particularly adapted for be passed and upon which the film may be the production of endless motion picture wound doubled on itself as shown, for ex- 0 films where the film is run repeatedly and ample in Figure 2, the mandrel 13 formin continuously through the projecting appaa third reel for the film. Y ratus without the interruptionnow made Conveniently located with respect to the necessary by a change of film or the switchreels is a suitable support or block 141 of any ing from one projecting apparatus to anappropriate construction upon which the 1 other. free ends of the films may be spliced or other- In my co-pending application Serial Numwise joined to one another. ber 553,558, filed July 28, 1931, I disclose an In using the apparatus shown in Figure 1 improved winding device adapted for the for forming an endless band from two sepfeeding of an endless strip of film continuarate films'or strips, one of the films, for exously through a sound or picture recording ample film 15, is'wound on the reel 10 and the or reproducing apparatus and in this device other, film 16 wound reversely on reel 11 so I make use of a plurality of mandrels or reels that the beginning of the record on strip 15 upon which the endless film is wound, and the end of the record on strip 16 are at doubled on itself, the film being alternately the outside of the reels as indicated at B and 5 wound on and unwound from the outside of Lrespectively.

each reel or mandrel. My present method is After winding the films in the manner departicularly adapted for reproducing a reel scribed the outside ends B and L spliced, of endless film wound in this manner and one cemented or otherwise joined to one another which may be readily mounted in the wind on the support 14. The spliced portion 17.

ing device disclosed in said application. or the portion of the joined film between the Other objects of my invention will appear reels 10 and 11 is threaded between the lugs from the following description taken in conof the mandrel or reel 13 and it will be seen nection with the accompanying drawing that on turning the reel13 film will be unwherein: I wound from both the reels 10 and 11 and Figure 1 is a diagrammatic View of a sup wound on the reel 13 doubled on itself as in- 5a porting structure employed for connecting dicated in Figure 2. When the separate films together two ends of separate films and subon reels 10 and 11 respectively are of equal sequently winding the joined film, doubled length the inner ends of the films will be on itself, upon a mandrel; i wound off together and may be conveniently Figure 2 is a diagrammatic View of the spliced on the table 14. 1 same film wound on the mandrel with the As substantially the entire length of film is opposite ends in position to be oined to one supported on the reel 13 the film remains in a another thus forming an endless film comcompact form and the inconvenient handling posed f t Separate fil j i d together of a mass of unwound film is avoided.

at both ends; I Should the strips of film originally wound on Figure 3' is a view similar to Figure 1 but reels 10 and 11 be of unequal length, after illustrating the manner in whichany greater joining the ends B and L the joined film even number of separate strips may be joined should be unwound from one of the reels 10 to for-man endless band,'and and 11 onto the other reel so that approxiginning of the record on one strip will join the last of the record on the other strip.

Itis apparent that instead of joining the remaining ends of the films of strips 15 and 16 directly to one another as indicated in Figure 2, these ends may be joined respectively on opposite ends of two additional films wound oppositely on separate reels and the completed film formed of the four strips wound on the reel 13. The remaining ends may then be joined making the whole into an endless band. In this manner any even number of strips may be joined to form an endless belt with the end of the record on one strip joined to the beginning of the record on the next succeeding strip. (Fig. 3).

When it is desired to joint an odd number of strips to form an endless band one strip may be unwound from reel onto reel 11 so that the same amount of film is on each reel. The portion of the film between the reels 10 and 11 is then secured to reel 13 and the film wound on reel 13, doubled on itself. This will bring opposite ends of the film together where they can be spliced or joined respectively of opposite ends of two films wound reversely on the reels 10 and 11, as shown in Figure 4.

Another method of procedure for joining any number of strips to one another is as follows. Assume that the reversely wound strips 15 and 16 of Figure 1 are the first two to be joined, the ends B and L are spliced on the support 14 and strip 15 is then wound off from reel 10 onto reel 11. The outside end of strip 15 is the last of the record on this strip. A third strip of film wound on a suitable reel in the same manner as the strip 15in Figure 1 that is, with the beginning of the record at the outside has its outer end spliced to the outer end of the film 15 which is now wound on the reel 11. The third film is then wound on the reel 11 so that the reel 11 now holds films 16, 15 and the third film with the last of the record of the third film at the outside of the reel. The outside end may then be joined to the opposite end of yet another film which in turn will be wound on the reel 11.

hen the strips have all been joined in this manner, the joined film is unwound from reel 11 onto reel 10 until there are approximately equal lengths of film on the two reels. The portion of the film between the reels is then secured to the mandrel 13 and the entire film unwound from reels 10 and 11 thus bringing out the remaining ends together so that they may be conveniently joined.

It will be noted that the completed strip in each case, is in the form of an endless band or" film wound doubled on itself on the mandrel 13. This band may easily be transferred to my improved winding device as disclosed in my said co-pending application which is designed for use with any suitable projecting or reproducing apparatus. For the purpose oftransferring the film to my improved winding device the head of the mandrel 13 may be made removable and adapted to be secured to the winding device and there function as one of the winding mandrels. In this way the endless film and its supporting mandrel may be removed as a unit from the present device and inserted in the winding device and a new mandrel head used in the present device.

It will of course be understood that suitable means will be employed for winding the several reels such as cranks secured to the shafts 31 and to which the reels in turn are removably secured and for the purpose of determining approximately the length of the film wound on the reels 10 and 11, I preferably mark the face plates of the reels with graduations 32 located along radical openings in the face plates.

I claim:

1. The method of forming an endless belt or" two strips of record film, which consists of winding the strips reversely on separate reels so that thebeginning of the record of one strip and the last of the record the other strip are at the outside of their respective reels, oining the outside ends of the strips to one another securing the portion of the film between the reels to a third reel, winding the film from said first mentioned reels onto said third reel, doubled on itself, so that the remaining ends of the strips are at the outside of said third reel and joining together said remaining ends.

2. The method of forming an endless belt of two strips of record film, which consists of winding the strips reversely on separate reels, so that the beginning of the record on one strip and the last of the record on the other strip are at the outside of their respective reels, joining the outside ends to one another, winding the joined film 05 from one reel and onto the other until both reels carry substantially the same length of film, securing the portion of the film between the reels to a third reel, winding the film from said first mentioned reels onto said third reel, doubled on itself, so that they remaining ends 1 of the strips are at the outside of said third reel and joining together said remaining ends.

3. A method of forming an endless belt of one or more strips of film which comprises unwinding a strip from one reel onto another reel until approximately equal lengths of strip are on the two reels, securing the portion of the strip between the reels to a third reel, unwinding the strip from the first two reels onto the third reel, doubled on itself, whereby opposite ends of the joined strip appear at the outside of the third reel and joining said ends directly to one another.

4. A method of forming an endless belt of i one or more record strips, which comprises unwinding a strip from one reel onto another reel until approximately equal lengths of strip are on the two reels, securing the portion of the strip between the reels to a third reel, unwinding the strip from the first two reels onto the third reel, doubled on itself, whereby opposite ends of the joined strip appear at the outside of the third reel and connecting said ends.

5. A method of forming an endless belt of one or more strips ofrecord film, which comprises unwinding a strip from one reel onto another reel until approximately equal lengths of strip are on the two reels, securing the portion of the strip between the reels on a third reel, winding the strip from the first two reels onto the third reel, doubled on itself, whereby opposite ends of the joined strip appear at the outside of the third reel and joining said ends respectively to outside opposite ends of two reversely wound strips.

6. A method of forming an endless-belt from a plurality of record strips similarly wound on a plurality of reels which method consists in unwinding one of the strips from its reel onto an additional reel, joining the outside end of the strip to the outside end of another of said strips, unwinding said other strip from its reel onto said additional reel and joining its outside end to the outside end and yet another of said strips and continuing this operation until all of said strips are joined end to end, unwinding the joined strips from said additional reel onto a reel until equal lengths of strip are on said additional and said last named reels, connecting the portion of said joined strip between said last named reels to a reel and winding the strip thereon, doubled on itself, whereby the remaining ends of said joined strip appear at the outside of said last named reel and joining said remaining ends together.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 14th day of October, A. D. 1931.

IRVING L. TENNEY. 

